Siman - Pesachim Daf 44
- היתר מצטרף לאיסור באיסורי נזיר
On the bottom of Daf 43b Rebbe Abahu said in the name of Rebbe Yochanan, כל איסורין שבתורה אין היתר מצטרף לאיסור – In the case of all forbidden substances mentioned in the Torah, a permitted substance does not combine with the forbidden substance to make up the minimum shiur to be chayav for, חוץ מאיסורי נזיר שהרי אמרה תורה משרת – except in the case of the forbidden substances of a nazir, since the Torah has said in their regard, “infused”. Rashi explains that this word teaches that a nazir is prohibited from eating bread that has been soaked in wine. Since it is obvious that if the bread contained a full kezayis of wine, the bread would be forbidden, then it must be that the Torah is referring to a case where the bread contains less than a kezayis of wine, and the kezayis shiur to be chayav was only attained by combining the forbidden wine and permitted bread.
The Gemara attempts to demonstrate that Rebbe Yochanan contradicts himself, based on his ruling where he states that a non-Kohen is chayav malkus for eating a kezayis of terumah-spiced porridge, even though he has not consumed a kezayis of terumah itself. This seems to be another case where היתר מצטרף לאיסור. Rav Dimi answers that Rebbe Yochanan ruling was in a situation דאיכא כזית בכדי אכילת פרס – that there is a kezayis of terumah ingredients that would be eaten in the time to eat a peras of the porridge. )This indicates that eating בכדי אכילת פרס is a דאורייתא .(
- טעם כעיקר מ'משרת'
The Gemara questions using the word משרת to teach that היתר מצטרף לאיסור for a nazir, based on a Baraisa that teaches, משרת ליתן טעם כעיקר – The word mishras comes to make flavor equivalent to substance, that if a nazir soaked grapes in water and the water subsequently has the flavor of wine, the nazir is chayav for drinking this water. And from here we can extrapolate to all of the prohibitions in the Torah, that the prohibition of a nazir is not an issur olam, a permanent prohibition, and there is no issur hana’ah from the grape products, ויש היתר לאיסורו – and a person can be released from his vow before his term expires, and nevertheless, עשה בו טעם כעיקר, then all the more so for kilai hakerem which is more stringent in all three, and orlah which although is not an issur olam, however it is stringent in the other two aspects.
The Gemara answers that the Baraisa reflects the view of the Rabbanon, but Rebbe Yochanan goes according to Rebbe Akiva who disagreed with the Rabbanon and uses mishras to teach the combination principle.
- טעם כעיקר מגיעולי נכרים
The Gemara seeks Rebbe Akiva’s source for טעם כעיקר and initially suggests that he learns it from בשר בחלב – meat and milk, where the Torah prohibits the mere flavor of milk that is absorbed in the meat, but then rejects this because בשר בחלב has an anomaly in that if one soaks meat in milk even for an entire day it is permitted but if one cooks it in the milk it is prohibited. Therefore, it cannot apply to other prohibitions. Instead, the Gemara says, that Rebbe Akiva learns טעם כעיקר from גיעולי נכרים – purging the keilim of nochrim, in that the emissions impart mere flavor and are forbidden. So too, with regard to all other forbidden foods, flavor is forbidden just like the substance. The Gemara continues with a discussion of why the Rabbanon disagree with Rebbe Akiva.
